The thrill of simply going fast

The most important day of my life, I always thought, was the day I got my driver's license. I was 16 and my first car, which I had bought several months earlier, was a 1951 Ford that was in pieces in our garage.

I was installing headers, high-compression heads, a dual intake manifold and a 3/4 race cam.

That was my first exposure to hot-rodding. All I wanted to do was make that flathead go faster, first on the street and then on the drag strip. A couple of years later, a 394-cubic-inch Olds powered the car — after a couple of flatheads and a smaller Olds had self-destructed.

That was the beginning of going fast. After a decade — and shortly before moving to Detroit to run Automotive News — I happily graduated to AA/Fuel Dragsters and I shall never forget the thrill and the fun of simply going fast.

No sooner did I arrive in Detroit than I met Jeff Wright, sales head of Jeep, who asked me a silly question. Did I like racing? That was the beginning of my venture into off-road racing in places such as Baja California, Mexico, for the Baja 1000, another fun adventure about as far away from drag racing as you could get.

Twenty-four hours vs. seven seconds — quite a contrast.

They say auto racing began five minutes after the second car was built. I am sure they are right.

If you're involved with cars, then you'll want to go racing. Manufacturers have been involved in motorsports since Henry Ford raced in Michigan to raise money to start Ford Motor Co. Chevrolet, Porsche and Ferrari were all men who had the need for speed. It is simply something that the car business is all about. Everyone — dealers, suppliers and factories — wants to be involved in racing. Lee Iacocca was quoted as saying, "Race on Sunday, sell on Monday."

It is different today. Million-dollar race programs replace backyard mechanics and computers replace spit and guesswork.

But cars simply attract people who want to go fast and win.

Racing is an important part of the automobile business. And it's still fun to go fast.